Hogwarts Card System Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Level Up!

Before going to find Lockhart, the big sucker, Ted had one very important thing to do.

That was to level up!

“Hermione, wait for me a moment. I’m going to the dormitory to get something. I’ll be right back.”

Hermione nodded, and Ted quickly walked out of the main tower…

Ted had accumulated a lot of experience points and could have leveled up a long time ago.

But he had been holding off on leveling up. Although he often used the excuse of “let’s see, maybe there will be some big gains from other-world knowledge next month” to convince himself, he knew it wasn’t true.

The reason he hadn’t chosen to level up his profession or spell levels as soon as he gained experience, but instead kept accumulating it, was because he was afraid.

That’s right, afraid.

Experience was hard to come by, but compared to the daily grind of researching and learning magic, it came relatively easily.

Such easily gained power made him feel overly flippant.

Last summer, when he directly leveled his Psion class to level 4, causing himself to be unable to control the surging psionic energy, he started to worry.

He worried whether he could truly control this easily gained power.

As a psion, it was very normal for him to have such thoughts.

Eastern philosophy always emphasized the state of mind, believing that one’s state of mind must be able to control power, otherwise, it would eventually lead to loss of control.

Ted had always worried about this, worried that the feeling of power surging with a thought would make him addicted, making him unable to distinguish true strength from false.

That feeling of being invincible, perhaps he would take it seriously…

So for nearly a year, he had deliberately ignored leveling up, meticulously honing his magic, strengthening his control over magic and his mastery of spells, converting spells from Azeroth and the D&D world, and delving into alchemy.

He deliberately slowed himself down.

But now, he needed power.

He was about to face a half-resurrected, youthful Voldemort and a basilisk. This was not something to be taken lightly.

This wasn’t like last year, where Dumbledore had written the script and had a fallback plan.

This year’s battle was for real; he had to go all out.

In fact, during the holidays, Ted had agonized for several days over whether to intervene in this battle.

If he wanted to take a shortcut, there were many ways to deal with the diary and the basilisk.

The simplest way was to find a way to discreetly inform Professor McGonagall.

Even if Dumbledore might be suspicious of him, Professor McGonagall would definitely trust him.

But after much deliberation, Ted asked himself—could he keep avoiding it?

The answer was—no!

Voldemort was bound to be resurrected. With so many horcruxes, as long as he wasn’t resurrected, no one could truly kill him off. He would eventually be resurrected, and there would inevitably be a final battle.

Moreover, the goblin riot in Diagon Alley that he encountered at the end of the holidays also served as a reminder—the world had changed!

These changes might not be any safer than Voldemort.

When combat was unavoidable, avoidance was not a good option.

Ultimately, Ted convinced himself that he had to fight, and he had to win with all his might!

Because this was just the beginning… let it be a trial!

Now, he needed power.

Ted focused his attention on his mind; his experience pool contained 34, 854 experience points.

Thanks to that group of Acromantulas, it felt like there were still dozens of them left. Should he find an opportunity to get some more?

To level up the Wizard profession to level 5 required 15, 000 experience points, and to level up to level 6 required 21, 000 experience points. After the reduction from the [Scholar (Purple)] talent, it would be 32, 400 experience points.

Finding an unoccupied lavatory, Ted hid in a cubicle.

“Level up Wizard profession!”

“Level up Wizard profession!”

The experience points in the pool flowed away like water. Ted’s Wizard profession leveled up twice consecutively, reaching level 6.

He gained 2 attribute points and 2 skill points.

+ 1 Agility, to make up for his shortcomings. Now his Agility was 5 points, equivalent to the nerve reflex speed of an adult male, so it wouldn’t hold him back.

+ 1 Spirit, to continue strengthening his advantage. His Spirit reached 15 points, three times that of an average person and about twice that of a normal wizard.

The strengthening of the Spirit attribute could enhance control over magic and increase spell power.

+ 1 level Magic Power. Ted’s magic power surged again, even bursting outwards from his body, instantly blowing up the entire cubicle.

He floated in mid-air, with bright blue light flickering continuously, gradually subsiding after more than ten seconds.

His bare-level Magic Power was 6. With the enhancement of his wand and the pseudo-Philosopher’s Stone, it had already reached level 9!

This meant that, in terms of magic power, he had already reached the same level as Snape.

Snape’s magic power was among the highest-ranked among the heads of houses. In the school, or rather, in all of Great Britain, no one surpassed him except Dumbledore.

This might not only be due to his noble innate bloodline but also possibly because he used dark magic and potions to enhance himself when he was young. That’s how he reached his magical peak before the age of forty.

And now, Ted, who was not yet in his third year, had achieved it with the enhancement of the system and equipment.

Ted could feel that the wand’s enhancement had reached its limit.

If his magic power continued to level up, the wand’s enhancement would disappear. Its level could no longer strengthen Ted.

The pseudo-Philosopher’s Stone, however, could continue to enhance him for a while longer…

What Ted hadn’t expected was that reaching bare-level 6 in magic power also increased his magical resistance by 1 level!

It was now Magic Resistance level 3!

He had tried it last year: if Jerry, who had Magic Power level 2, Spell level 2, and Magic level 2, used a Severing Charm on him, he could endure it and be exempt from the magical effect.

Although it wasn’t successful every time, he could withstand it seven or eight times out of ten, which was already a very high probability.

However, if Hermione, who was stronger and had a higher magic level, cast it, he couldn’t block it at all, at most only reducing the effect.

Now that Ted’s Magic Resistance was level 3, could he block level 3 magic?

He would research that later…

For the other skill point, Ted upgraded his spells. His bare-level spells were level 5, and with the wand’s enhancement, they were a full level 6.

While he couldn’t compare to masters like Professor Flitwick, even among elite Aurors, not many could reach level 6 spells.

Previously, because his Charms class was only level 4, it limited the effectiveness of his magic. The levels of his various spells were basically not higher than 4 (the wand-enhanced spells counted as + 1, only for spell effect). Now, he could progress quickly again.

But what he didn’t expect was that a level 5 spell also yielded an extra gain.

Ted gained a new skill, Magic Penetration level 1!

This attribute corresponded to Magic Resistance, meaning his magic could ignore 1 level of Magic Resistance.

That is, if the opponent originally had Magic Resistance level 5 and his magic was also level 5, there was a high probability that the opponent could withstand it.

But now with Magic Penetration level 1, the opponent would be equivalent to having Magic Resistance level 4 against him, and would be completely unable to resist!

This attribute was incredibly important!

After all, many magical creatures in the wizarding world had incredibly high magic resistance…

Ted checked his experience pool and magic, then spent the last 2, 400+ experience points. He leveled up the Eye-Jinx and Sectumsempra to level 5.

The Eye-Jinx was manageable; if he had enough time, Ted could practice it himself.

But Sectumsempra was an advanced spell, truly difficult to level up.

Now, Ted had to cast Sectumsempra at full power four or five times at a target to gain 1 point of proficiency. Conservatively estimated, it would take three thousand casts to level up!

This wasn’t like playing a game where you just hold down a button. Casting Sectumsempra at full power, Ted would feel his energy dissipate and his temples throb after just ten or twenty times.

As expected of an advanced dark magic, this thing was too burdensome!

These two spells would serve as his main offensive means in the upcoming battle. If their levels were too low, Ted worried they wouldn’t have enough effect on the basilisk.

Now, he had to use experience points to level them up.

Fortunately, the [Scholar (Purple)] talent also had a – 20% effect on the experience points required for magic upgrades. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been quite enough.

Good, all the experience he had accumulated for half a year was spent. Like a broken eggshell in the wind, money gone, peace of mind.

Ted casually waved his hand, and a non-verbal, wandless Reparo spell was cast. The scattered debris and bricks automatically flew back to their original positions, repairing the damage to the lavatory cubicle. The scene was quite spectacular~

He tidied his clothes, quietly walked out, and found Hermione.

“Ted, you’re back?”

“Yes, let’s go find Lockhart.”

(End of Chapter)